Rapid online payment system

ABSTRACT

A method for online payments includes receiving an instruction to start a payment application. Payment tag information is then received and sent over a network. Product information that is associated with the payment tag information is then received over the network and displayed on a first payment page that includes a request for payment account credentials. The first payment page is provided through the payment application immediately following the sending of the payment tag information. Payer account credentials are then received through the payment application and sent over the network. Payer account information is then received over the network and displayed on a second payment page that includes a payment confirmation indicator. The second payment page is provided through the payment application immediately following the first payment page. A selection of the payment confirmation indicator is then received through the payment application and sent over the network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/066,342, filed on Oct. 29, 2013, which in turn is a continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 13/338,019, filed Dec. 27, 2011, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,600,892, issued on Dec. 3, 2013, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Appl. Ser. No. 61/430,074, filed Jan. 5, 2011, whichare incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to online and/or mobile paymentsand more particularly to a rapid online payment system.

Related Art

More and more consumers are purchasing items and services overelectronic networks such as, for example, the Internet. Consumersroutinely purchase products and services from merchants and individualsalike. The transactions may take place directly between a conventionalor on-line merchant or retailer and the consumer, and payment istypically made by entering credit card or other financial information.Transactions may also take place with the aid of an online or mobilepayment service provider such as, for example, PayPal, Inc. of San Jose,Calif. Such payment service providers can make transactions easier andsafer for the parties involved. Purchasing with the assistance of apayment service provider from the convenience of virtually anywhereusing a mobile device is one main reason why online and mobile purchasesare growing very quickly.

Thus, the use of mobile devices such as a smart phones allow consumersto shop and make payments from virtually anywhere. However, conventionalmobile shopping situations still require the consumer to performweb-based transaction flows that are designed for a non-mobile systemand that are cumbersome and time-consuming on a mobile device for anumber of reasons. For example, the display of a mobile device istypically smaller than the display of a non-mobile device for which theweb-based transaction flow is typically designed, which may result indifficulties with regard to reading information from and enteringinformation on the mobile device. In another example, mobile devicekeypads or keyboards present a variety of difficulties with regard totheir use relative to a standard keyboard on a non-mobile device, whichcan result in a higher likelihood of entering erroneous data.

Such problems associated with making purchases using a mobile device mayresult in a consumer deciding to delay the purchase (e.g., until theconsumer can make the purchase on a non-mobile device) or even foregothe purchase completely.

Furthermore, consumers may encounter products in non-electronic orweb-based forms such as, for example, physical advertisements (e.g.,consumers may encounter a product that they wish to purchase but did notinitially seek out, i.e., “impulse” purchases). This may occur at anytime, e.g., when the consumer is traveling, waiting in line, sitting ona bus, watching the television, etc. Conventional mobile purchasingsystems require the consumer to determine how to find and purchase theproduct using the advertisement. For example, the consumer may berequired to use their mobile device to search for the product, go to awebsite listed on the advertisement, and/or otherwise “find” the productusing their mobile device. The consumer is then required to locate aproduct purchasing page using their mobile device (which presents manyof the problems discussed above with regard to the use of mobiledevices), followed by the consumer being presented with the conventionalweb-based purchases flow issues discussed above. It has been found thatsuch conventional mobile purchasing systems, and the issues they entailwith regard to mobile devices, are so time consuming that the consumertypically decides not to go through with the purchase.

Thus, there is a need for an improved online payment system.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, a method for online payments includesstarting a payment application on a payer device. The paymentapplication, upon start-up, may immediately provides the user with apayment tag information provision page. The user may use the payment taginformation page to capture an image of a payment tag. The payment taghas been provided to a seller to be attached to a product and/or productadvertisement, and the payment tag includes payment tag information thatis associated in a product/tag database with product information for theproduct. The image captured of the payment tag provides payment taginformation that the payment application may automatically send over thenetwork to a product retrieval engine that uses it to retrieve theproduct information that is associated with the payment tag informationin the product/tag database. The product information is then sent overthe network to the payment application. The payment application may thenprovide the user with a first payment page that may immediately followsthe payment tag information provision page and that includes the productinformation and a request for payer account credentials. The user thenprovides payer account credentials to the payment application, and thepayment application sends the payer account credentials over the networkto a payer account engine that uses the payer account information toverify that the user has a payer account. The payer account engine thensends payer account information over the network to the paymentapplication, and the payment application provides the user with thesecond payment page that may immediately follows the first payment pageand includes the payer account information and a payment confirmationindicator. The user may then select the payment confirmation indicatorand the payment application will send a payment confirmation over thenetwork to the payer account engine. The payer account engine may thencause funds to be transferred from the payer account to a seller accountof the seller.

As a result, a user may purchase a product simply by seeing a paymenttag on a product or product advertisement, starting a paymentapplication, capturing an image of the payment tag using the paymentapplication, providing payer account credentials through the paymentapplication, and selecting a payment confirmation indicator on thepayment application. The combination of the payment tag and the paymentapplication reduces the time and complexity in making a mobile purchaseusing the payer device from several minutes to, in many cases,substantially under one minute, which results in the user being morelikely to purchase the product.

These and other features and advantages of the present disclosure willbe more readily apparent from the detailed description of theembodiments set forth below taken in conjunction with the accompanyingfigures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a method for onlinepayments;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a productadvertisement;

FIG. 3 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a payment taginformation provision page;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a usercapturing an image of a payment tag on the product advertisement of FIG.2;

FIG. 5 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of the payment tag ofFIG. 4 being captured using the payment tag information provision pageof FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of the payment tag ofFIG. 4 being captured using the payment tag information provision pageof FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a first paymentpage;

FIG. 8 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a second paymentpage;

FIG. 9 is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a receipt page;

FIG. 10a is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a web-basedproduct advertisement including a payment tag;

FIG. 10b is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a first paymentpage provided in response to selecting the payment tag of FIG. 10 a;

FIG. 10c is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a second paymentpage provided in response to submitting payer account credentials on thefirst payment page of FIG. 10 b;

FIG. 10d is a screenshot illustrating an embodiment of a receipt pageprovided in response to selecting a payment confirmation indicator onthe second payment page of FIG. 10 c;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a networkedsystem;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of a payerdevice;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computersystem; and

FIG. 14 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a sellerdevice, a payment service provider device, a funding account providerdevice, an online payment service provider device, and/or combinationsthereof.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides a system and method for making onlinepayments. A seller includes a plurality of products and/or productadvertisements. For each product, product information for that productmay be associated with product tag information in a product/tagdatabase, and product tags may be provided by the seller with theirassociated products and/or product advertisements (e.g., at a sellerlocation, at an advertising location, etc.) A payer includes a payerdevice having a payment application. Upon start up of the paymentapplication, the user is presented a payment tag information provisionscreen that allows the payer to use a camera on the payer device tocapture an image of the payment tag that is provided with the product orproduct advertisement. The image of the payment tag provides payment taginformation that the payment application may automatically send over anetwork to a product retrieval engine such that product informationassociated with the payment tag information may be retrieved andreturned, over the network, to the payment application. The paymentapplication may then present the user with a first payment page thatimmediately follows the payment tag information provision page andincludes the product information and a request for payer accountcredentials. The user may then provide the payer account credentials tothe payment application for forwarding to a payer account engine. Thepayer account engine then verifies a payer account using the payeraccount credentials and sends payer account information (e.g., apurchase funding account, a shipping address, etc.) over the network tothe payment application. The payment application may then present theuser with the second payment page that immediately follows the firstpayment page and includes the payer account information and a paymentconfirmation indicator. Selection of the payment confirmation indicatorby the user causes the payment application to send a paymentconfirmation to the payer account engine, which then causes funds to besent from the purchase funding account of the payer to an account of theseller.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a method 100 for online payments beginsat block 102 where payment tag information is associated with productinformation. In an embodiment, the online payment system includes one ormore product/tag databases in which each product in the online paymentsystem includes product information that is associated with distinctpayment tag information. For example, a seller of a plurality ofproducts such as, for example, athletic shoes, may provide productinformation (e.g., shoe type, shoe style, shoe brand, shoe price,available shoe sizes, etc.) in the product/tag databases for each of theproducts in the product/tag databases, and then may associate distinctpayment tag information such as, for example, a distinct alphanumericcharacter string and/or other identifier known in the art, with each setof product information in the database. In another example, an onlinepayment system provider may accept product information for products froma plurality of different sellers and associate the product informationfor each product with distinct payment tag information in theproduct/tag databases. In this example, the product information mayinclude additional information that is not directly related to theproduct such as, for example, seller information about the seller. Thus,the online payment system may be seller-specific in that only a singleseller's products are available for purchase using payment tags, or itmay provide products from a variety of different sellers who ‘register’their products with an online payment system provider that then provideseach seller with a payment tag for each of their products. Inembodiments where a variety of different sellers provide products in theonline payment system, the distinct payment tag information for eachdistinct payment tag is therefore associated with a product and theseller of that product. While a few examples have been provided, one ofskill in the art will recognize that payment tag information may beassociated with product information in a variety of other scenarioswhile remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

In an embodiment, product information may include a number of categoriessuch as, for example, product data, product inventory information,product shipping information, and/or a variety of other productinformation known in the art. The seller or online payment systemprovider may enter the product data into a product/tag database (e.g.,using a web interface, through an Application Programming Interface(API), and/or using a variety of other methods known in the art.) Theseller or online payment system provider may also enter the productinventory information into the product/tag database in the same manner,and the online payment system may update the product inventoryinformation as that information changes (e.g., when purchases of theproduct associated with the product inventory information are made). Inother embodiments, the inventory status of a product may be updated inreal time via API calls to the seller. The seller or online paymentservice provider may input the product shipping information into theproduct/tag database, and that product shipping information may bedetermined by the seller or online payment service provider and based onpayer location. Any purchases of products may be reported from theonline payment system provider to the seller through an Instant PaymentNotification (IPN) system such as, for example, IPN systems provided byPayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif., that make IPN's available daily, upona change/purchase in the product information, periodically, and/or atother intervals known in the art.

As discussed above, payment tag information may include an alphanumericcharacter string and/or other identifier known in the art. The paymenttag information may be used to create a payment tag that includes thepayment tag information. For example, the payment tag information may beused to create a payment tag that may include, for example, a UniversalProduct Code (UPC), an International Article Number (EAN), a QuickResponse (QR) code, a web page based selector button, and/or a varietyof other identifiers known in the art. The payment tag may be includedon a physical medium such as, for example, a sticker, that may beattached to its associated product. The payment tag may also be includedin a product advertisement for its associated product. For example, FIG.2 illustrates a wall 200 including a product advertisement 202 havingadvertising materials 204 and a product tag 206. While a few examples ofproduct tags are provided below, one of skill in the art will recognizethat a variety of different product tags will fall within the scope ofthe present disclosure.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the method 100 then proceeds toblock 104 where a payment application is started. In the embodimentdiscussed below, a payer having a mobile payer device such as, forexample, a phone, encounters the product advertisement 202 of FIG. 2 anddecides to purchase the product associated with the productadvertisement 202. However, this embodiment is presented only as anexample, and one of skill in the art will recognize that variety ofother purchasing scenarios will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure. At block 104, upon deciding to purchase the product in theproduct advertisement 202, the payer may use their payer device to starta payer application that is included on the payer device. In anembodiment, the payer application includes instructions that are storedon a non-transitory, computer-readable medium that, when executed by aprocessor in the payer device, cause the processor to perform thefunctions of the payment application discussed below. The paymentapplication may be provided by the operator of the online payment system(e.g., a seller that operates the online payment system, an onlinepayment system provider that operates the online payment system for aplurality of sellers, a funding account provider that operates theonline payment system, etc.)

As described below, the payer application provides a payment flow usingthe payment tags that allows rapid mobile payments online using themobile payer device. Upon receiving the instruction to start the paymentapplication, the payer device activates the payment application.Activation of the payment application provides a payment tag informationprovision page through the payment application on the payer device. FIG.3 illustrates a payer device 300 that includes a display 302 displayinga payment tag information provision page 304. In an embodiment, thepayment tag information provision page 304 is provided through thepayment application on the payer device 300 immediately after theinstruction to start the payment application is received by the payerdevice 300.

For example, following the provision of the instruction to start thepayment application, the payment tag information provision page 304 maybe the first user-interactive page provided to the user through thepayment application on the payment device 300. As is known in the art,loading pages and/or other non-interactive pages may be provided on thepayer device 300 as the payment application is loaded and/or otherwisestarted up, but the payment tag information provision page 304 may bethe first page provided to the user on the payment application withwhich the user interacts with to start the payment process. In anotherexample, following the provision of the instruction to start the paymentapplication, the payment tag information provision page 304 may be thefirst substantive user-interactive page provided to the user through thepayment application on the payment device 300. As is known in the art, alanding page for the payment application may be provided on the payerdevice 300 in response to start up of the payment application, and thelanding page may include a selector buttons for making a rapid mobilepayment, adjusting the settings of the payment application, and/or avariety of other selector buttons known in the art. In such a situation,the payment tag information provision page 304 may be considered thefirst substantive page provided to the user on the payment applicationwith which the user interacts with to start the payment process, as theselector button for making a rapid mobile payment adds relatively littletime to the payment process. Thus, while immediately presenting thepayment tag information provision page 304 to the user through thepayment application following the instruction to start the paymentapplication shortens the payment process, providing a landing page thatincludes a selector button for making a rapid payment, which results inthe payment tag information provision page 304 being quickly providedthrough the payment application, that does not significantly lengthenthe payment process will fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

The payment tag information provision page 304 includes a first paymenttag information acquisition section 306 and a second payment taginformation acquisition section 308. In the illustrated embodiment, thefirst payment tag information acquisition section 306 provides for the‘scanning’, ‘visual’, or ‘image’ acquisition of payment tag information,while the second payment tag information acquisition section 308provides for the ‘manual’, ‘text’, or otherwise more user intensiveacquisition of payment tag information, as discussed in further detailbelow. The first payment tag information acquisition section 306includes an image capture window 306 a, and the second payment taginformation acquisition section 308 includes a text input 308 a. As canbe seen, the first payment tag information acquisition section 306 andthe second payment tag information acquisition section 308 provide arequest by the payment application for payment tag information from theuser.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4, the method proceeds to block 106where payment tag information is received. FIG. 4 illustrates a user 400using the payer device 300 to provide payment tag information from thepayment tag 206 to the payment application. As can be seen in FIG. 4, inresponse to seeing the product advertisement 202 and deciding the buythe product associated with the product advertisement 202, the user 400has started the payment application on the payer device 300 and is usingthe payment tag information provision page 304 on the payer device 300to provide payment tag information to the payment application.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, a payment tag 500, which may bethe payment tag 206 illustrated in FIG. 2, includes a UPC. The payerdevice 300 may include a camera that is operable to capture an image ofthe payment tag 500 and, using methods known in the art, the paymentapplication may use the image to determine the payment tag informationincluded in the payment tag 500 (e.g., the information encoded in theUPC). In another example, the payer device 300 may include a scanningdevice that is operable to provide a light source on the payment tag 500and measure the intensity of the light reflected back, and the paymentapplication may use the measured light intensities to determine thepayment tag information included in the payment tag 500 using methodsknown in the art. In another embodiment, the payment tag may includehuman-readable payment tag information (e.g., “4815162342” on thepayment tag 500 in the illustrated embodiment), that the payer 400 mayenter into the text input 308 a in the second payment tag informationacquisition section 308, and the payment application may determine thatthe text string as the payment tag information. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 6, a payment tag 600, which may be the payment tag206 illustrated in FIG. 2, includes a QR code. The payer device 300 mayinclude a camera that is operable to capture an image of the payment tag600 and, using methods known in the art, the payment application may usethe image to determine the payment tag information included in thepayment tag 600 (e.g., the information encoded in the QR code).

The method 100 then proceeds to block 108 where product information isretrieved. Upon receiving the payment tag information in block 106 ofthe method 100, the payment application sends the payment taginformation over a network to a product retrieval engine provided by anoperater of the online payment system. In an embodiment, the paymentapplication may be operable to automatically send the payment taginformation to the product retrieval engine upon determining the paymenttag information from the image captured by the user. Thus, in oneexample, the user starts the payment application, is presented with thepayment tag information provision page 304, frames the payment tag inthe image capture window 306 a, and payment tag information is thenautomatically sent to the product retrieval engine. The productretrieval engine then accesses the product/tag databases and uses thatpayment tag information to determine the product information that isassociated with that payment tag information. The product retrievalengine then sends that product information over the network to thepayment application on the payer device 300 such that the paymentapplication has retrieved the product information using the payment taginformation received in block 106.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 7, the method 100 proceeds to block 110where a first payment page is provided. In the illustrated embodiment,the payment application has provided a first payment page 700 includinga product section 702 and a payer account credential request section704. However, in some embodiments, the product section 702 may beomitted. The product section 702 may include some or all of the productinformation retrieved in block 108 such as, for example, sellerinformation 702 a, a product name 702 b, a product price 702 c, and aproduct description 702 d. While a plurality of examples of productinformation are provided in the illustrated embodiment, one of skill inthe art will recognize that a variety of different product information(e.g., shipping information such as shipping cost, shipping times, etc.)will fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

In the illustrated embodiment, the product section 702 also includes aplurality of product modifier inputs (which may also be consideredproduct information) such as, for example, a quantity input 702 e andproduct modifier inputs 702 f. The user of the payment application mayuse the payer device 300 to provide a number (e.g., “1” in theillustrated embodiment) of the products that the user wishes to purchasein the quantity input 702 e. The user of the payment application mayalso use the payer device 300 to provide product modifiers for theproduct they wish to purchase in the product modifiers 702 f. In anembodiment, the seller of the product may provide the product modifierinputs 702 f as part of the product information, and they may allow theuser to select between a number of modifiers for the product. Forexample, if the product is an article of clothing, the user may be ableto use the product modifiers 702 f to provide product modifiers such assize, color, and/or a variety of other product modifiers known in theart.

The payer account credential request section 704 includes a user nameinput 704 a, a password input 704 b, and a submit button 704 c. The userof the payment application may use the payer device 300 to provide auser name in the user name input 704 a and a password in the passwordinput 704 b. In the illustrated embodiment, the user name and passwordcorrespond to payer account credentials for a payer account provided bya payment service provider 706. For example, a payment service providersuch as PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. may provide payment services tothe user by providing the user a payer account. The user may thenassociate funding accounts such as, for example, a checking account, asavings account, a credit account, and/or a variety of other fundingaccounts known in the art, with that payer account. The user may thenmake purchases using the payer account, and the payment service providerwill transfer funds from the appropriate funding account in order to payfor the purchase. In other embodiments, the user name and password maycorrespond to payer account credentials for a payer account provided bya seller, a funding account provider, and/or a variety of other payeraccount providers known in the art. For example, the seller may providethe user a credit account for making purchases with the seller, and theuser name and password correspond to payer account credentials for thatcredit account. In another example, a funding account provider mayprovide the user a funding account (e.g., a checking account, a savingsaccount, a credit account, etc.), and the user name and passwordcorrespond to payer account credentials for that funding account. Insuch an example, the payer account credential request section 704 mayinclude an input that allows the user to indicate the funding accountprovider that provides the funding account.

Upon provision of a user name in the user name input 704 a and apassword in the password input 704 b, the user may select the submitbutton 704 c, and the method 100 proceeds to block 112 where payeraccount credentials are received. Selection of the submit button 704 cprovides the payment account credentials to the payment application. Inan embodiment, user name input 704 a and/or the password input 704 b maybe auto-filled in the payment application. In such an embodiment, if noproduct modifier inputs are provided in the product section 702, or ifthe product modifiers 702 f are already correctly filled (e.g., thepayment application and/or the payer device 300 may save userpreferences such as clothing sizes and color preferences and autofillthe product modifiers 7020, the user simply needs to select the submitbutton 704 c when presented with the first payment page 700. Thus, inone embodiment, upon seeing the product advertisement 202, the user hasstarted the payment application, captured an image of the payment tag tocause payment tag information to automatically be sent such that productinformation was retrieved, and then selected a submit button to providepayer account credentials to the payment application.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 114 where payer accountinformation is retrieved. Upon receiving the payer account credentialsin block 114 of the method 100, the payment application sends the payeraccount credentials over the network to a payer account engine that mayuse the payment account credentials to determine a payer account of thepayer that may be used to purchase the product. For example, in anembodiment in which the payer account is provided by a payment serviceprovider, the payer account engine may be operated by the paymentservice provider and is operable to determine a payer account that thepayer has with the payment service provider. In another example, in anembodiment in which the payer account is provided by the seller of theproduct, the payer account engine may be operated by the seller and isoperable to determine a payer account that the payer has with theseller. In another example, in an embodiment in which the payer accountis provided by a funding account holder, the payer account engine may beoperated by the funding account holder and is operable to determine apayer account that the payer has with the funding account holder. Inanother example, the payer account engine may be operated by the onlinepayment system provider and is operable to receive the payer accountcredentials, provide the payer account credentials to a payer accountholder for the payer, and receive a confirmation from the payer accountholder that the payer has a payer account.

In response to determining that the payer account credentials correspondto a payer account for the payer, the payer account engine retrievespayer account information and sends the payer account information overthe network to the payment application. In an embodiment, the payeraccount information may include a payer name, a payer account number, alist of funding accounts associated with the payer account, one or moreshipping addresses provided for the payer account, and/or a variety ofother payer account information known in the art.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 8, the method 100 then proceeds to block116 where a second payment page is provided. In the illustratedembodiment, the payment application has provided a second payment page800 including a product section 802 and a payer account section 804. Theproduct section 802 may include some or all of the product informationretrieved in block 108 such as, for example, seller information 802 aand a product name 802 b. The product section 802 may also includeinformation provided in the product modifier inputs 702 e and 702 f onthe first payment page 700, such as a plurality of product modifiers 802c and a quantity 802 d. That product section 802 may also include aplurality of pricing information such as, for example, a subtotal amount802 e, a shipping & handling amount 802 f, and a total amount 802 g. Inan embodiment, the subtotal amount 802 e may be computed by the paymentapplication using the product price 702 c and quantity input 702 e onthe first payment page 700. Furthermore, the shipping & handling amount802 f may be determined by the payment application using productinformation and a shipping address included in the payer accountinformation retrieved in block 114. Finally, the total amount 802 g maybe computed by the payment application using the subtotal amount 802 eand the shipping & handling amount 802 f. While a plurality of examplesof product information are provided in the illustrated embodiment, oneof skill in the art will recognize that a variety of different productinformation will fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

In the illustrated embodiment, the payer account section 804 includes afunding account selector 804 a. For example, in the illustratedembodiment, the payer account information retrieved in block 114 is fora payer account provided by a payment service provider 806, and thepayer account information includes a plurality of funding account thatare associated with the payer account. The funding account selector 804a allows the user to select which funding account to use in funding thepurchase. In other embodiments, multiple funding accounts may not beassociated with the payer account (e.g., when only one funding accountis associated with the payer account provided by the payment serviceprovider, when the seller provides a single payer account to the payer,when a funding account provider provides a single payer account to thepayer, etc.), and the funding account selector may be omitted.

The payer account section 804 also includes a shipping address section804 b. In an embodiment, the shipping account section 804 b may beautofilled with shipping information that was retrieved as part of thepayer account information in block 114. Furthermore, several shippingaddresses may have been retrieved as part of the payer accountinformation, and the shipping account section 804 b may allow the userto quickly select between those shipping addresses. Furthermore, theshipping address section 804 b may allow the user to provide a newshipping address that was not part of the payer account informationretrieved in block 114. In the illustrated embodiment, the productaccount section 804 also includes a note to seller input 804 c thatallows the user to provide a note to the seller of the product beingpurchased. However, in other embodiments, the note to seller input 804 cmay be omitted. The product account section 804 also includes a paymentconfirmation indicator 804 d.

The method 100 then proceeds to block 118 where a payment confirmationis sent. The user may use the payer account section 804 on the secondpayment page 800 to select a funding account (e.g., using the fundingaccount selector 804 a), verify, change, or provide a shipping address(e.g., using the shipping address section 804 b), and optionally providea note to the seller (e.g., using the note to seller input 804 c). Ifthe payer is satisfied that the information in the product section 802and the payer account section 804 is accurate, the payer may select thepayment confirmation indicator 804 d. In response to detecting theselecting the payment confirmation indicator 804 d, the paymentapplication sends a payment confirmation over the network to onlinepayment system provider. In an embodiment, the payment confirmation maybe sent to the online payment system provider and then forwarded to theseller, a payment service provider, a funding account provider, and/or avariety of other purchasing entities known in the art. In an embodiment,the payment confirmation may include the information in the productsection 802, the information in the payer account section 804, and/or avariety of other purchasing information known in the art. In anembodiment, in response to receiving the payment confirmation, a paymentservice provider and/or a funding account provider may transfer fundsfrom a funding account of the payer to an account of the seller of theproduct being purchased. Thus, in one embodiment, upon seeing theproduct advertisement 202, the user starts the payment application,captures an image of the payment tag to cause payment tag information toautomatically be sent such that product information was retrieved,selects a submit button to provide payer account credentials to thepayment application, and selects a payment confirmation indicator toconfirm the purchase. One of skill in the art will recognize that suchan embodiment, and several other embodiments discussed above, greatlyreduce the time and complexity of making mobile purchases.

Referring now to FIG. 9, in an embodiment, upon receiving the selectionof the payment confirmation indicator 804 d, the payment application mayprovide a receipt page 900 that includes a product receipt 902 and asave button 904 that the user may select in order to save the productreceipt 902 on the payer device 300.

Thus, an online payment system method has been described that greatlyreduces the time and complexity of making mobile payments by allowing apayer to quickly and easily provide product tag information that may beused to retrieve and provide the user with information about a productthey wish to purchase. The system then immediately provides a firstpayment page that allows the user to quickly and easily provider payeraccount credentials. The system then immediately provides a secondpayment page that allows a user to quickly and easily provide a paymentconfirmation in order to purchase the product. Information such as someor all of the payer account credentials, product quantities, productmodifiers, funding accounts, and shipping addresses may be auto filledby the payment application such that the user may complete the purchaseflow and purchase the product very quickly (e.g., simply by starting thepayment application, capturing an image of the product tag, submittingpayer account credentials, and selecting a payment confirmationindicator.) Thus, impulse purchases are enabled through a mobile device,providing benefits to purchases (quicker and easier purchases) andsellers (fewer lost purchases due to complicated purchases flows thatare not conducive to a mobile environment.)

Referring now to FIGS. 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d , an online payment systemis illustrated that is similar to the online payment system discussedabove, but with the provision that the product tags are electronic andprovided on web-based product advertisements. The online payment systemillustrated in FIGS. 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d may operate according to themethod 100 discussed above with a few differences detailed below.

For example, at block 102 of the method 100, the electronic paymenttags, which are associated with payment tag information that isassociated with the product information in the product/tag databases,may be provided to sellers. The sellers may then provide the electronicpayment tags in electronic product advertisements. For example, FIG. 10aillustrates a web page 1000 displayed in a web browser. While the webbrowser may be recognized by someone of skill in the art as a desktopweb browser, one of skill in the art will understand that mobile webbrowsers will fall within the scope of the present disclosure as well.The web page 1000 includes a product advertisement 1002, and a paymenttag 1004 has been included with the product advertisement 1002. In anembodiment, the electronic payment tag 1004 may include or have accessto the payment tag information discussed above.

When operating according to the method 100, the online payment systemillustrated in FIGS. 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d may combine blocks 104 and106 such that when the payment tag 1004 is selected by the user (e.g.,by ‘clicking’ on the product tag 1004), a payment application is startedand payment tag information associated with the product tag 1004 isreceived. Then method 100 then operates as discussed above such thatproduct information in retrieved at block 108 and a first payment pageis provided at block 110. FIG. 10b illustrates a first payment page 1006that operates in a substantially similar manner as the first paymentpage 700, discussed above with reference to FIG. 7. The method 100 thencontinues to blocks 112 and 114 where payer account credentials arereceived and payer account information is retrieved substantially asdescribed above. The method 100 comes to block 116 where a secondpayment page is provided. FIG. 10c illustrates a second payment page1008 that operates in a substantially similar manner as the secondpayment page 800, discussed above with reference to FIG. 8. The method100 then continues on to block 118 where a payment confirmation is sent,and a receipt page may be provided. FIG. 10d illustrates a receipt page1010 that operates in a substantially similar manner as the receipt page900, discussed above with reference to FIG. 9.

Thus, a online payment system has been described that allows a payer toquickly and easily make payments online. Furthermore, combinations ofthe embodiments of the online payment systems discussed above areenvisioned. For example, an augmented reality system may be implementedin which the payer may view a product, product advertisement, sellerestablishment, or other viewable entity through their payer device, andthe payer device may then display an electronic payment tag similar tothat discussed with reference to FIGS. 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d usingaugmented reality technology known in the art. In such a system, producttags may be displayed to a payer on the payer device based on a payerlocation (as determined by a location determination device in the payerdevice). For example, the payer may be located in the vicinity of aseller, and the seller may provide a product and product tag on thepayer device due to their common location. The payer may then use theonline payment system as discussed above to quickly and easily purchasethe product. In another example, the payer may provide a list of desiredproducts to the payment application, and when the payer device is in alocation where one of the products on the list of desired products isavailable, the payer may be notified and provided a payment tag withwhich to make the purchase as discussed above.

Referring now to FIG. 11, an embodiment of a networked system 1100 usedin the online system described above is illustrated. The networkedsystem 1100 may include any or all of a plurality of payer devices 1102,a plurality of seller devices 1104, a payment service provider device1106, a plurality of funding account holder devices 1108, and/or anonline system provider device 1110 in communication over a network 1112.Any of the payer devices 1102 may be the payer device 300, discussedabove. The seller devices 1104 may be the seller devices operated by thesellers of the products discussed above. The payment service providerdevice 1106 may be operated by a payment service provider such as, forexample, PayPal Inc. of San Jose, Calif., as discussed above. Thefunding account provider devices 1108 may be funding account providerdevices operated by funding account providers such as, for example,credit card account providers, bank account providers, savings accountproviders, and a variety of other account providers known in the art.The online payment system provider device 1110 may be operated by anonline payment system provider as discussed above. One of skill in theart will recognize that some of the devices in the networked system 1100may not be necessary in different embodiments. For example, where theonline payment system is provided by a seller, the online payment systemprovider device 1110 and the payment service provider device 1106 maynot be included in the networked system 1100. In another example, wherethe online payment system is provided by a payment service providerdevice, the online payment system provider device 1110 may not beincluded in the networked system 1100. In another example, where theonline payment system is provided by a funding account provider device,the online payment system provider device 1110 and the payment serviceprovider device 1106 may not be included in the networked system 1100.Thus, one of skill in the art will recognize that a variety ofmodifications may be provided to the networked system 1100 whileremaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

The payer devices 1102, seller devices 1104, payment service providerdevice 1106, funding account provider devices 1108, and/or the onlinepayment service provider device 1110 may each include one or moreprocessors, memories, and other appropriate components for executinginstructions such as program code and/or data stored on one or morecomputer readable mediums to implement the various applications, data,and steps described herein. For example, such instructions may be storedin one or more computer readable mediums such as memories or datastorage devices internal and/or external to various components of thesystem 1100, and/or accessible over the network 1112.

The network 1112 may be implemented as a single network or a combinationof multiple networks. For example, in various embodiments, the network1112 may include the Internet and/or one or more intranets, landlinenetworks, wireless networks, and/or other appropriate types of networks.

The payer devices 1102 may be implemented using any appropriatecombination of hardware and/or software configured for wired and/orwireless communication over network 1112. For example, in oneembodiment, the payer devices 1102 may be implemented as a personalcomputer of a user in communication with the Internet. In otherembodiments, the payer devices 1102 may be a smart phone, personaldigital assistant (PDA), laptop computer, and/or other types ofcomputing devices.

The payer devices 1102 may include one or more browser applicationswhich may be used, for example, to provide a convenient interface topermit the payer to browse information available over the network 1112.For example, in one embodiment, the browser application may beimplemented as a web browser configured to view information availableover the Internet.

The payer devices 1102 may also include one or more toolbar applicationswhich may be used, for example, to provide user-side processing forperforming desired tasks in response to operations selected by thepayer. In one embodiment, the toolbar application may display a userinterface in connection with the browser application. In anotherembodiment, the toolbar application may provide the payment application,discussed above.

The payer devices 1102 may further include other applications as may bedesired in particular embodiments to provide desired features to thepayer devices 1102. In particular, the other applications may includethe payment application, discussed above, for payments assisted by apayment service provider through the payment service provider device1106. The other applications may also include security applications forimplementing user-side security features, programmatic user applicationsfor interfacing with appropriate application programming interfaces(APIs) over the network 1112, or other types of applications. Emailand/or text applications may also be included, which allow the payer tosend and receive emails and/or text messages through the network 1112.The payer devices 1102 include one or more user and/or deviceidentifiers which may be implemented, for example, as operating systemregistry entries, cookies associated with the browser application,identifiers associated with hardware of the payer devices 1102, or otherappropriate identifiers, such as a phone number. In one embodiment, theuser identifier may be used by the payment service provider device 1106,funding account provider devices 1108, and/or online payment serviceprovider device 1110 to associate the user with a particular account asfurther described herein.

The seller devices 1104 may be maintained, for example, by the seller ofthe product, a conventional or on-line merchant, conventional or digitalgoods seller, individual seller, and/or application developer offeringvarious products and/or services in exchange for payment to be receivedconventionally or over the network 1112. In this regard, the sellerdevices 1104 may include a database identifying available productsand/or services (e.g., collectively referred to as products) which maybe made available for viewing and purchase by the payer. In addition,databases identifying available products and/or services (e.g.,collectively referred to as products) will be available to any providerof the online payment system, as discussed above.

Referring now to FIG. 12, an embodiment of a payer device 1200 isillustrated. The payer device 1200 may be the payer devices 300 and/or1102. The payer device 1200 includes a chassis 1202 having a display1204 and an input device including the display 1204 and a plurality ofinput buttons 1206. One of skill in the art will recognize that thepayer device 1200 is a portable or mobile phone including a touch screeninput device and a plurality of input buttons that allow thefunctionality discussed above with reference to the method 100. However,a variety of other portable/mobile payer devices may be used in themethod 100 without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 13, an embodiment of a computer system 1300suitable for implementing, for example, the payer device 300, the payerdevices 1102, the seller devices 1104, the payment service providerdevice 1106, the funding account provider devices 1108, and/or theonline payment service provider device 1110 is illustrated. It should beappreciated that other devices utilized by payers, sellers, paymentservice providers, funding account providers, and/or online paymentservice providers in the payment system discussed above may beimplemented as the computer system 1300 in a manner as follows.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure,computer system 1300, such as a computer and/or a network server,includes a bus 1302 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as aprocessing component 1304 (e.g., processor, micro-controller, digitalsignal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memory component 1306 (e.g.,RAM), a static storage component 1308 (e.g., ROM), a disk drivecomponent 1310 (e.g., magnetic or optical), a network interfacecomponent 1312 (e.g., modem or Ethernet card), a display component 1314(e.g., CRT or LCD), an input component 1318 (e.g., keyboard, keypad, orvirtual keyboard), a cursor control component 1320 (e.g., mouse,pointer, or trackball), a camera component 1322, and/or a locationdetermination device 1323 (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS)device as illustrated, a cell tower triangulation device, and/or avariety of other location determination devices known in the art.) Inone implementation, the disk drive component 1310 may comprise adatabase having one or more disk drive components.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the computersystem 1300 performs specific operations by the processor 1304 executingone or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory component1306, such as described herein with respect to the payer devices 300,1102, and 1200, the seller devices 1104, the payment service providerdevice 1106, the funding account provider devices 1108, and/or theonline payment service provider device 1110. Such instructions may beread into the system memory component 1306 from another computerreadable medium, such as the static storage component 1308 or the diskdrive component 1310. In other embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may beused in place of or in combination with software instructions toimplement the present disclosure.

Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer toany medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor1304 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. Invarious implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magneticdisks, such as the disk drive component 1310, volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as the system memory component 1306, andtransmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiberoptics, including wires that comprise the bus 1302. In one example,transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such asthose generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer is adapted to read. In oneembodiment, the computer readable media is non-transitory.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by the computer system 1300. In various other embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a plurality of the computer systems 1300 coupledby a communication link 1324 to the network 1112 (e.g., such as a LAN,WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

The computer system 1300 may transmit and receive messages, data,information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e.,application code) through the communication link 1324 and the networkinterface component 1312. The network interface component 1312 mayinclude an antenna, either separate or integrated, to enabletransmission and reception via the communication link 1324. Receivedprogram code may be executed by processor 1304 as received and/or storedin disk drive component 1310 or some other non-volatile storagecomponent for execution.

Referring now to FIGS. 14, an embodiment of a payment serviceprovider/seller/online payment service provider/funding account providerdevice 1400 is illustrated (i.e., the device 1400 may be any orcombinations of the payment service provider device, the seller device,the online payment service provider device, and/or the funding accountprovider device, depending on the embodiment and which entity orentities are providing the online payment system). The device 1400includes a communication engine 1402 that is coupled to the network1112, a product retrieval engine 1404, and a payer account engine 1406.The product retrieval engine 1404 is coupled to the payer account engine1406 and a product/tag database 1408, and the payer account engine 1406is coupled to the product retrieval engine 1404 and a payer accountdatabase 1410. The communication engine 1402 may be software orinstructions stored on a computer-readable medium that allows thedevice(s) 1400 to send and receive information over the network 1112.The product retrieval engine 1404 may be software or instructions storedon a computer-readable medium that is operable to receive payment taginformation, retrieve product information from the product/tag database1406, and provide the product information to the communication engine1402 (e.g., for transmittal to the payer device) and/or the payeraccount engine 1406. The payer account engine 1406 may be software orinstructions stored on a computer-readable medium that is operable toreceive payer account credentials, retrieve payer account informationfrom the payer account database 1410, receive product information fromthe product retrieval engine 1404, receive purchasing details from thecommunication engine, and provide payer account to the communicationengine 1402 (e.g., for transmittal to the payer device). While theengines 1402, 1404, and 1406 and the databases 1408 and 1410 have beenillustrated as located in the device 1400, one of skill in the art willrecognize that they may be connected to one another through the network1112 (e.g., when the online payment system is provided by more than oneentity such as, for example, when the payer account engine is providedby a funding account provider and the product retrieval engine isprovided by a seller) without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as programcode and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readablemediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may beimplemented using one or more general purpose or specific purposecomputers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Whereapplicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may bechanged, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-stepsto provide features described herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. As such, itis contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modificationsto the present disclosure, whether explicitly described or impliedherein, are possible in light of the disclosure. For example, the aboveembodiments have focused on sellers and payers; however, a payer orconsumer can pay, or otherwise interact with any type of recipient,including charities and individuals. The payment does not have toinvolve a purchase, but may be a loan, a charitable contribution, agift, etc. Thus, seller as used herein can also include charities,individuals, and any other entity or person receiving a payment from apayer. Having thus described embodiments of the present disclosure,persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may bemade in form and detail without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is limited only by the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for online payments, comprising:receiving, by a payer device, an instruction to start a paymentapplication; receiving, by the payer device, payment tag information andsending the payment tag information over a network; receiving, by thepayer device over the network, product information that is associatedwith the payment tag information and, in response, displaying a firstpayment page on the payer device through the payment application,wherein the first payment page includes the product information and arequest for payer account credentials, and wherein the first paymentpage is displayed on the payment device through the payment applicationimmediately following the sending of the payment tag information overthe network; receiving, by the payer device through the first paymentpage payment, payer account credentials and, in response, sending thepayer account credentials over the network; receiving, by the payerdevice over the network, payer account information and, in response,displaying a second payment page on the payer device through the paymentapplication, wherein the second payment page includes the payer accountinformation and a payment confirmation indicator, and wherein the secondpayment page is displayed on the payer device through the paymentapplication immediately following the first payment page; and receiving,by the payer device through the second payment page, a selection of thepayment confirmation indicator and, in response, sending a paymentconfirmation over the network.